Space Hulk Deathwing – Xbox360

Surprisingly, the the single-player campaign is the game’s main focus. Co-op is available, but feels slightly bolted-on. You can attack any story mission with friends, but in the default mode you have to level up class skills all over again every time you start a session, which is madness—select codex mode instead to get access to all weapon loadout options. Playing with intelligent battle brothers lets you better take advantage of your ability to lock doors and hack turrets. The game is better in co-op, but you can’t escape the dull objectives and the oppressive, unrelenting gunmetal palette.

Deathwing has also been running poorly for some players, who have been voicing their concerns en masse on Steam and in the game’s forums. Bizarrely the game ran poorly on my work PC but perfectly on my home PC, even though both machines use the same GPU and have similarly powerful CPUs—the twisted work of some Chaos god, surely. The Steam refund function is your friend here, and I can see many players turning to it even without technical hiccups. In co-op especially, when you’re huddled together in a dark corner reducing hundreds of aliens to mush, it’s good simple fun in a cool setting. If you’re not a fan of the fiction, Left 4 Dead 2, Vermintide and Killing Floor 2 will serve you better.